Samsung, Apple knock Nokia off top handset spots

King dethroned in European markets

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Nokia has been knocked off the top spot as Europe's best-selling phone maker by Samsung, and in the smartphone arena by Apple.

First-quarter figures released by market watcher IDC give the South Korean giant 29.3 per cent of the market, just ahead of Nokia's 27.9 per cent share.

Nokia's unit shipments fell ten per cent on its Q1 2010 tally, while Samsung rose five per cent - the same as the market as a whole.

Apple took third place with 9.8 per cent of the Western European market, ahead of RIM and HTC, each of which accounted for 7.8 per cent.

The three saw unit shipments grow, respectively, 49, 48 and 271 per cent year on year. That's a telling sign how much the Western European phone biz is shifting toward smartphones - these three companies make nothing else.

Then again their combined share still doesn't match Nokia, let alone Samsung, so it's clear Europeans are still buying plenty of ordinary handsets.

When you look at smartphones alone, Nokia outsold Samsung, which came fifth, with a market share of 12.1 per cent in Q1 2011. Nokia's share, 19.6 per cent, was second only to Apple, which grabbed 20.8 per cent.

RIM came in join third with HTC, both taking 16.5 percent.

Nokia's smartphones shipments slumped 15 per cent year on year. The next three suppliers' growth figures are listed above, but Samsung was on fire, racking up an shipments rise of 744 per cent.

Apple and RIM are continuing to sell more smartphones, but they're not grabbing as may new users as Samsung and HTC are.

That's in Europe - worldwide, Nokia was top dog, taking 24.3 per cent of the global smartphone market, according to IDC. Apple followed with 18.7 per cent, RIM with 14 per cent, Samsung with 10.8 per cent and HTC with 8.9 per cent.

Again Samsung and HTC put in three-figure year-on-year growth rates - 350 per cent and 229.6 per cent, respectively - but so did Apple: its world shipments were up 114.4 per cent. RIM's were up 31.1 per cent, Nokia's 12.6 per cent.

The world smartphone market as a whole? Up 79.7 per cent on Q1 2010's total. ®